Innovation Marketing Lead, Discover Platform

Mars; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 170,000 - 234,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Mars University

Industry-competitive salary

Company bonus

Job summary

Mars Snacking seeks an Innovation Marketing Lead within the Discover Team to translate consumer pain points into tangible products, packaging, and experiential solutions rooted in verified human needs. The Associate Director shapes value propositions with early validation from consumers, customers, retail buyers, and experts to fuel scalable growth across Mars Snacking.

You'll lead cross-functional teams across Marketing, HI, R&D, Design, and Science & Technology, driving rapid tests, external

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 7–10+ years in CPG brand marketing and front-end innovation (NPD).
• Experience applying Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile co-creation.
• Strong consumer insights with proficiency in qualitative and proposition testing.
• P&L understanding, margin structures, and early-stage business case modeling.
• Proven ability to build external partnership networks ( startups, academia, incubators).
• Exceptional storytelling and executive presentation skills.
• Comfort with ambiguity and data-driven iteration.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire multi-disciplinary innovation project teams (Marketing, HI, R&D, Design, S&T).
• Champion consumer pain points and verified needs at discovery stages.
• Translate pain points into concepts and prototypes with R&D and Design.
• Run rapid consumer experiments to validate desirability.
• Collaborate with customers, buyers, startups, and researchers to refine propositions.
• Craft value proposition canvases and early business models.
• Package insights and business cases for handoff to commercialization teams.
• Monitor trends and signals to enable fast-follow concept development.
• Track milestones and KPIs to improve speed and pipeline impact.

Skills

Design Thinking

Lean Startup

Agile co-creation

Consumer insights

Storytelling

Executive presentation

Ambiguity navigation

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Marketing/Business

Master's/MBA preferred

Job description

Mars Snacking seeks an Innovation Marketing Lead within the Discover Team to translate consumer pain points into tangible products, packaging, and experiential solutions rooted in verified human needs. The Associate Director shapes value propositions with early validation from consumers, customers, retail buyers, and experts to fuel scalable growth across Mars Snacking.

You'll lead cross-functional teams across Marketing, HI, R&D, Design, and Science & Technology, driving rapid tests, external